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>>>He was a showman disaster whose tax cutting and spending reduction did a great deal to build the rich v poor society the USA has today.
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>>That's not quite accurate. By today's standards, Reagan would be viewed as a "RINO".
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>>Yes, Reagan signed some tax cuts into law. And in the early years of his presidency he tried to reduce the size and power of the IRS.
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>>But in 1982 and 1984 he signed two of the biggest peacetime (at the time) tax increase bills.
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>>He also signed tax reform legislation - which eliminated tax breaks and shelters and effectively led to higher income Americans getting larger tax bils.
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>>As for spending reduction, that's also pretty much a myth. Spending as % of GDP rose under Reagan (much of it on defense)
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>>I've always said Reagan is one of the more misunderstood presidents. He was definitely NOT the free-market capitalist that people say he was - and in foreign policy, he was really more of a disappointment who benefited from events.
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>>I don't think he was a terrible president. He was a good speaker and projected a strong America. But the world view of Reagan is really not accurate.
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>No I agree about the spending issue . But (to me) he along with Thatcher over here managed to put in place the accepted view that tax and government spendng where a bad thing. Where the countries that regularly feature in the "happiest" ranking are high tax high government spending models which are more equal.

I agree with you. He said in one of his inaugural speeches "Government isn't the solution. Government is the problem." (Full disclosure: I didn't look up the exact words.) In my view, that's been the underlying policy of the Republicans ever since and it's led to what we see in that party today.

Tamar